Tag: Ceramic

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Parnis

Parnis Submariner Starbucks Homage Watch Review

Parnis Starbucks

It is really good to make a lot of friends in the world, I have some friends in China, so sometimes I will ask them to buy some fake watches and fake handbags there and send to me, these items are fakes but have top quality, I can not even see any difference between them and my genuine Rolex. In recent months, I am collecting homage watches made in China, I am deeply attracted by them, some have amazing designs and good prices, Parnis is the one I love most, it already has a long history in this area, but you can not buy Rolex and Panerai homages which Parnis makes in other countries, now the only way is to buy them from China, my friend Sam bought on Taobao, it is a very good place to find a lot of homage watches.

Parnis Green Sub Homage

This is a great homage watch, I thought it would not come with a ceramic bezel, but the watch manufacturer installs a green ceramic bezel for it. The watch also equipped with a Japanese citizen 8215 automatic movement, that’s a really reliable movement and also accurate, you can not buy such a good homage watch with a low price from other places. The latest Submariner Starbucks from Rolex has a 41mm case, but this Parnis is 40mm, whatever, this is a size more suitable for my wrist.

Parnis Green Submariner

The case is not thick, it even has a close thickness to a real Rolex Submariner, which is 13mm, the watch has brushed finish on the case and bracelet, the crown guards protecting the crown are polished, there is a Parnis logo “P” letter on the face of the crown. The bezel is a close immitation of the green ceramic bezel used by green Rolex Submariner, there is a lume pearl set at 12 o’clock, it has a green lume light in dark places, like the hour markers and hands on the dial. The rotatable bezel has a crisp clicking sound, and it is very comfortable to rotate the bezel.

Parnis Sub Bracelet
Parnis Sub Clasp

Under the sapphire crystal, the black dial has all necessary features you can find on a Submariner’s dial, except the engravings on the inner bezel, on this Parnis, the inner stainless steel bezel is empty without engravings. Hour markers are standing on the black dial with white lume material filled in, it is said to be Swiss-standard lume material, the dial lume is indeed strong, but I have not tested if it can last long.

Parnis Sub Lume

The bracelet also made with solid 316L stainless steel like the case, it has a pressing deployant clasp that features “Parnis” engraving on the buckle. I like this press-style buckle, it is easy to open. Overall, for this Submariner homage watch, it has two big selling points, green ceramic bezel and Japanese movement, I almost forgot its price, which is also very reasonable and even very cheap, the quality exceeds my expectation at this price level.

Parnis Sub Wrist Shot
Categories
STEELDIVE

STEELDIVE Green Marine 200m Review

Steeldive SD1996

Now, STEELDIVE has become my first choice when considering to buy a diver’s watch, it is the Chinese brand that has the most authentic diving watch genes, I have seen a lot of STEELDIVE watches, this is my fifth piece I bought from STEELDIVE, each of them has a strong case design, the dial is regular diver’s watch dial style, strong lume and big markers to increase readability, everyone likes such type of diving watch, wearing it is also a way to show your personality. When you are thinking of a diving watch to buy and do not want to spend too much, then a watch made in China is a great choice, do not consider these big traditional Chinese brands like Sea-gull, Beijing, Shanghai or Fiyta, because they do not have homage watches that have a more popular outlook and design, so sometimes that’s the reason why you see niche brands such as STEELDIVE and Parnis are more popular among watch fans in forums.

Steeldive SD1996 Diver Watch

This is a classic diver’s watch from Green Marine series of STEELDIVE, the watch is full stainless steel made, there is also rubber band option to choose, STEELDIVE offers several colors, black, blue and green, I choose the black one, it is the most classic, just like the Submariner 116610LN from Rolex.

Steeldive SD1996 Crystal
Steeldive SD1996 Crown

The watch is made with solid 316L stainless steel, both case and bracelet are brushed, the case has a diameter of 41mm, not including the crown, it is a little thick, which is up to 13.5mm. The lugs have a short design, the end link of the bracelet is also bent well with the curved lugs, seeing from the side, the case side has polished face, there is a STEELDIVE logo on the crown, it is the oxygen tanks and mask for diving. The bezel stands high above the middle case with a black ceramic insert, which features blue lumed bezel markers.

Steeldive SD1996 Bezel

The dial is a hot spot of the watch, the hour markers seem to be bigger than those of other diver’s watches I have seen, the hour hand and minute hand have a much wider design, they are all applied with cyan luminous material, the lume light is green and so strong. The dial has white minute markers printed on an beveled inner bezel, which brings a three-dimensional layered effect to the entire dial. From the red printings above the marker at 6 o’clock, we can know the series and water resistant depth of the watch.

Steeldive SD1996 Black Diver
Steeldive SD1996 Bracelet

The watch is powered by a NH35 automatic movement that comes from Japan. Almost all diving watches from STEELDIVE use this movement. It is one of the most affordable automatic movements in the market, also with considerable accuracy and stability, its accuracy is claimed to be -20 to +40 seconds per day, now I have had this watch for three weeks, it is about 35 seconds faster each day. For the Chinese watches with the same price level, I would rather choose the one with a Japanese movement.

Steeldive SD1996 Dial Lume

Conclusion:

This watch is more suitable for your daily wearing than other STEELDIVE diver’s watches. Made with solid stainless steel and uses Japanese automatic movement, the watch can be used for more than five years.

Categories
Heimdallr

Heimdallr Submariner Green Hulk Homage Review

Heimdallr Green with Black Band

Heimdallr has achieved some renown as a Chinese niche brand in watch field, in past years, many people were talking this watch in forums and communities, I also bought four pieces of Heimdallr watches before, I love them, they look nice and are good timepieces that meet current watch trend. For people who love diver’s watches, Heimdallr is a good choice, because most of their watches are diving styles with big face and superlume, absolutely solid made but with more affordable prices, so you can more homages of the original watches you like at less cost, so your collection will be richer.

Heimdallr Green Sub
Heimdallr Green Sub with Black Rubber Strap

This green one is my fifth Heimdallr watch I have bought, I gave two of my Heimdallr watches to my friends, so two weeks ago I made my decision to buy this green Heimdallr watch. Submariner 116610LV Hulk is always my dream watch and its price is always high, it is also hard to get one in the second-hand watch market, now this Heimdallr seems to have fulfilled my wish temporarily, it is also the best homage of green Submariner Hulk I have ever seen.

Heimdallr Green Sub Case
Heimdallr Green Sub Bezel

I made a lot of searches online and found that many Chinese brands have produced the green Submariner homage, but when I received this Heimdallr, I was surprised by its green color, it is the most correct green that is closest to that of Submariner Hulk, by the way, the bezel insert uses real green ceramic material, which has the same green color as the green dial, there is very subtle color difference, this is very important when making a homage of hulk sub.

Heimdallr Green Sub Dial

The case is made with 316L stainless steel, its diameter is about 40mm, but not that accurate, a little bigger than 40mm, the case thickness is about 13.5mm, actually Heimdallr can consider using 904L stainless steel on this watch, after all many replica Rolex watches have used this type of stainless steel, but that also means higher cost if you choose the 904L SS, may be a bad idea. The entire case is brushed, except its smoothly polished sides and crown guards. There is a round pearl set on the bezel at 12 o’clock, it is fully filled with white luminescence, but it looks a bit white.

Heimdallr Green Sub Dial Lume

The green dial has radial textures, hour markers, hour hand and minute hand are applied with white luminous material, they will emit a blue lume light in dark conditions. On the dial, the are white printings of “HEIMDALLR”, no logo, the shark logo and brand name are engraved on the inner bezel, above the date window, there is a magnifier attached on the crystal. On the dial, we can say that Heimdallr claims it is 300m water resistant, this is a great depth, I did not test, but I think 30m water resistance is not a problem for this watch.

Heimdallr Green Sub Wrist Shot

The watch is equipped with a Japanese NH35 automatic movement, it is a very common automatic movement made in Japan, many niche brands like Heimdallr and STEELDIVE choose this movement becuase of its low cost, also such type of Japanese movement has no big inaccuracy. By the way, the watch originally came with a stainless steel bracelet, I removed it and changed a black rubber band on, it looks nice.

Besides this green one, there are other two options for this Heimdallr watch, black one and the model with green bezel and black dial, they all look good.